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    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)

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    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
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    Artist
    Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801) after Wilson
    Title
    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
    Date
    Undated
    Medium
    Etching
    Dimensions
    Metric: Sheet: 248 x 343 mm; plate: 184 x 257 mm
    Imperial: Sheet: 9 3/4 x 13 1/2 in.; plate: 7 1/4 x 10 1/8 in.
    Collection
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven. To license images click here
    Accession Number
    B1977.14.21011(l)
    Wilson Online Reference
    E43
    Description
    View into the cavernous interior of an ancient ruin at the right, over the vast arches of which grow bushes and drooping plants. Two figures are seen standing in the right foreground and there are antiquities leaning against the wall at the left, with a landscape beyond.
    Exhibited
    Tercentenary 2014 (113)
    Provenance
    Acquired 1977
    Signature/inscription
    Lettered below the image:
    [1] Upper left: R. Wilson del.
    [2] Upper right: M. Rooker sc.
    [3] Centre: VILLA of MAECENAS at TIVOLI.
    Subject
    The entrance to one of the colossal arcaded galleries of the Sanctuary of Hercules the Victor at Tivoli, then thought to be the Villa of Maecenas.
    Related Drawings
    D130 Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    Related Prints
    E72/37 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Part of Mecenas' Villa at Tivoli, The British Museum
    E88 Thomas Abiel Prior after Wilson, Ruins in Italy, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Paintings
    P137 Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Tate, London
    P137A Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery
    P137B Wilson, Study at Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
    P137C Studio of Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (Ruins at the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli), Magdalen College, Oxford
    P137D Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Private Collection, USA
    P137E Studio of Wilson, Villa Maecenas, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
    P185 Wilson, Farm with a Pond, National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum
    Critical commentary
    This etching derives from Wilson's painting of the same subject now at Tate, London (P137). He paired the latter with P138 The West Belvedere of Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Tate, London and many other versions) and this, too, was etched by Rooker (E42). Twelve Original Views in Italy was published by John Boydell as a compilation of etchings by different printmakers, produced over a number of years, after Wilson's drawings or paintings. As Jonathan Yarker has noted Rooker's prints after Wilson were popular with the next generation of English landscape painters and were copied, for example by Thomas Girtin at the 'academy' of Dr Thomas Monro in the mid-1790s.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    Object ID: 49690
    Bibliography
    Booth Notes Doc. 7; Edwards 1808, p. 88; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 292
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/96
    More Information
    E43 is one of the few extant impressions of this etching (along with E43C, E43D & E43E) to lack Boydell's publication line. This may indicate that, together with other prints in the series Twelve Original Views in Italy, it was first commissioned by Wilson with a view to publication himself, and only later passed or sold to Boydell when Wilson was hard pressed for cash.
    Wilson came to possess Rooker's copper plate of this etching at the end of his career, a time when he could not afford new supports for pictures. He re-used it for the small painting P185 Farm with a Pond, National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum.
    Condition/Conservation
    Bound with eleven other 'original views' in an old leather binding with 'Views of Rome' imprinted on the spine but lacking a title page. Spine of the binding: 254 mm (10 in.)
    Updated by Compiler
    2025-05-12 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, The British Museum

    Prints

    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Part of Mecenas' Villa at Tivoli, The British Museum
    • T.A. Prior after Wilson, Ruins in Italy, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
      • ]

    Versions

    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), Royal Academy of Arts, London
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), National Museum Wales, Cardiff

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Tate, London
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Study at Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
    • Studio of Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (Ruins at the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli), Magdalen College, Oxford
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Private Collection, USA
    • Studio of Wilson, Villa Maecenas, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Farm with a Pond, National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum

    Exhibitions

    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art & Cardiff, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, 6 March - 29 October 2014

    Biographies

    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)
    • Paul Mellon (1907-1999)

    Documents

    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 6: List of Engravers after Wilson and Biographical Notes
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 7: List of Prints after Wilson's Paintings
    This print is part of the "Twelve Etchings of Views in Italy Yale Center for British Art" sketchbook
    View sketchbook pages
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